


Crash, Crash, Burn

by strawberrycheesecake



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 18:39:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2783660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrycheesecake/pseuds/strawberrycheesecake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Root and Elias unite to take revenge on the Brotherhood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crash, Crash, Burn

**Author's Note:**

> So, um, Shaw dies here... I don't actually believe that Shaw will die (soon), but I was discussing S04E09 with a friend, and we started talking about how Root might totally lose it if Shaw should die and how awesome it might be if she joined Elias and they took out the world together.  
> The final product does not describe the awesomeness of Root and Elias taking out the world. Also, I don't think I captured Root's voice that well. Sigh. But I thought I might as well post it before the next episode airs.

Crash, Crash, Burn

The man who built God looked like a timid insurance salesman (which he sometimes was). The man who had New York City looked like a timid high school teacher (which he sometimes was).

Root knew all about John’s first encounter with Carl Elias – the noble attempt to save a teacher who was in the wrong place at the wrong time – and the thought of John’s surprise at the end was almost enough to amuse her.

Root hadn’t been amused – or even as much as smiled – for a very long time, but when she caught Elias’ eye and she readied herself to make her self-introduction, her lips curled and her teeth flashed in a near approximation of the thing. She had to be friendly, after all. The Machine taught her how to care, and even before that she knew how to make people like her, because things got so much easier when people liked you.

 

They had been so focused on the threat Decima’s agents and Samaritan posed, that the Brotherhood became a minor thing in comparison.

“You have to remember that we are fighting God,” Root herself had said to Shaw. They had been arguing after Shaw’s failed attempt to coerce Root into taking her to help Reese. Shaw had tried to end her, as promised.

In the end they did not come to any conclusion. Harold came in and asked them politely to stop. “The screaming is getting to Bear,” he added, which shut Shaw up.

They made up afterwards, and while Shaw still failed to grasp the gravity of the situation, she did manage to stay put. Fortunately there had not been many numbers. John managed to take care of them, sometimes on his own, sometimes with Fusco.

Root carried on her work. She had, for some time, sensed uneasiness in the hints the Machine dropped her. Something was about to go down, again, something the Machine was taking a lot of time to work out.

It was only when the Brotherhood went gunning for Detective Riley that the Machine conveyed to her: _Samaritan has recruited the Brotherhood._ It was obvious in hindsight, Samaritan wanted to control politics, why stop with what was above ground?

Shaw came with her. “Reese would already be exposed, so what’s the harm?” she said, after finishing her hot dog and licking the mustard off her fingers.

The image stayed with Root. There had been so many memories, but the one that came up the most was Shaw’s last meal. It was too characteristic, and sometimes that made Root bitter, because why should her most vivid memory of Sameen be something that anyone who knew her could think of?

 

“I guess it would be unwise to refuse your offer,” Elias finally said, after Root had laid the pros and cons before him. “But I must ask, why?”

“Because I also want to see the Brotherhood burn,” said Root.

 

It was like what happened with Hanna all over again, only better, only worse.

It was better because everything happened with crystal clarity. The enemy identified, everything was right before her eyes. There was no doubt as to what to do.

But it was worse.

Root sometimes wondered how the Machine felt, after being taught to care. From her own experience, it was a terrible, terrible thing to do to anyone, flesh and blood and ones and zeros alike.

 

“I have to admit,” Elias told her, after watching in satisfaction how Dominic raved about their drug operations going bust again, “I am surprised that you worked with John and Harold. Your methods do not seem very … compatible with theirs.”

“It took a while for them to come around,” Root replied. “Sometimes they still can’t.”

 

Harold had attempted to stop her.

“Ms Groves – Root, I have to insist that this is extremely unwise,” he said, in his urgent way.

“Why not?” Root retorted. “The Brotherhood has to be stopped. _She_ agrees. It’s part of the bigger picture, Harry.”

Harold stood his ground, “No. You want revenge, for Ms Shaw. I understand what you’re feeling, but—”

“No, you don’t,” Root cut in, viciously. “You _don’t_ know what it’s like.”

“I cared for her too,” Harold insisted. “We all did.”

“Let her, Finch,” John said from the back of the room. He had just finished stitching himself up, refusing anyone’s help. A bit of sentimentality that almost hurt as everything else.

“Revenge is not—” Harold sighed. “It would be dangerous, and—”

“You can’t stop me, Harry,” Root told him. “And I won’t be alone in this.”

 

Except for that one time, Elias never questioned Root’s motives. He never asked why she wanted the Brotherhood to burn. They worked together with precision and ruthlessness, with a mutual sort of respect, never fully trusting each other – there was no need for that anyway.

When the Brotherhood finally burned (with some help from John and Harold, who did come around slightly because it was what he did), Root felt no great relief, and the ensuing confusion and pain was so unexpected that Elias, who was beside her, saw it.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“Why don’t I feel better?” Root said, the question simply shrill sound to her. She felt like an idiot child – something she had never been, but the world delighted in giving her new experiences now. But she had expected – she cared about Sameen, more than she had ever cared, which disrupted her usual ways, but Sameen was dead, and was it not reasonable that she should deal with it using her usual ways, and afterwards regain normalcy (normalcy for her, at least)?

“The only way to feel better is to get what you want,” said Elias, perhaps kindly. “So, Root, do you have what you want?”

“I want revenge, and I have it,” Root looked up at the sky, overcast, colorless, bland. “I felt better when I revenged Hanna, so why not now?”

“Maybe this time the loss is not so easily covered,” said Elias, sighing and suddenly looking old and weary. He straightened up very soon, though. “Well, best of luck to you. I have to hurry along now, I have a city to run, and I suppose you have whatever mysterious errand to run for your mysterious boss.”

And so they parted ways.


End file.
